Shops, malls, restaurants, hotels, cafes, garages and showrooms in Gujarat will be allowed to stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Gujarat Assembly passed the Gujarat Ease of Doing Business Bill, 2026, on the last day of its three-day monsoon session, which closed on 11 September, Business Today reported. Minister of State for Industry Dr Jairam Gamit piloted the bill, and Chitralekha reports it passed by a majority vote.
The closing hours it removes
Under the old rules, establishments in municipal areas and along state highways had to shut between 2 am and 6 am. Those elsewhere had to close from 11 pm to 6 am, according to Business Today and Aryan Age. Hospitals, petrol pumps and transport hubs were among the few places allowed to run through the night, The Blunt Times noted.
The bill drops those mandatory closing windows for eligible establishments. In return, an owner who stays open late must keep the premises and the area around them clean, manage traffic and ensure safety. The labour provisions on working hours, rest intervals, leave and worker safety stay in force.
One bill, five laws
The 24×7 clause is one of 12 amendments the bill makes to five state laws. Business Today and Chitralekha both report these other changes:
- Fire safety: fire-safety rules shift to a risk-based model, so the requirements for a building would depend on the hazard it poses.
- Registration: shops and establishments can register through self-declaration and certified documents, without waiting for an inspector.
- MSMEs: the state adds stronger support measures for micro, small and medium enterprises under its facilitation law.
- Public services: if officials miss the deadline for a government service or complaint, the case moves up to a senior officer automatically.
The rules night-shift staff still work under
This bill builds on an earlier change to the same Shops and Establishments Act. Gujarat first brought that amendment as an ordinance on 16 December 2025 and notified it as law on 27 February 2026, India Briefing reported. It raised the maximum working day from nine hours to ten, kept the weekly cap at 48 hours, and raised the overtime limit from 125 to 144 hours a quarter. It also lifted the threshold for full registration from 10 employees to 20.
The February law also allowed women to work between 9 pm and 6 am. According to India Briefing and DeshGujarat, an employer who rosters women at night must obtain their consent, provide transport home, supply restrooms and separate toilets, and put anti-harassment safeguards in place.
Put the two laws together and a store that never closes needs at least three shifts, since no worker can go past ten hours in a day. A mall or restaurant that wants to stay open all night will have to hire for those hours or pay overtime within the 144-hour limit.
What it means in your city
For shoppers and diners in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara or Rajkot, the change means a shop or eatery with the right registration will no longer have to shut at 11 pm or 2 am because the law says so. For residents who live above or beside commercial strips, the bill puts traffic and cleanliness on the business owner. The reports on the bill do not say how municipal staff or police will respond if a 3 am crowd spills onto a residential road.
Small traders face a different calculation. A kirana shop owner who works the counter alone gains nothing by staying open all night, but a pharmacy, eatery or garage on a highway may pick up trade that used to go to the petrol pump. The easier registration and self-declaration route may matter more to those owners than the extra hours.
The bill came in the same session as the state’s new rent law, which we covered last week. Both replace older, inspection-heavy regimes with self-declaration and registration.
What to watch
The bill needs the Governor’s assent and a notification before it takes effect. The earlier amendment took about ten weeks to go from ordinance to notified law. After that, look for the rules that define which establishments count as “eligible”, and for any guidelines city police commissioners issue on late-night operations in crowded areas.
Sources: Business Today, Chitralekha, Aryan Age, The Blunt Times, India Briefing, DeshGujarat
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.